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That is an amazing deal for the DVR+.
Let's hope shipping/handling is not $75.

Shipping is free.
Perhaps this is a golden opportunity for them to unload an overabundance of inventory (hopefully this is the case).....
or perhaps they have a new model in the works!
If it's the latter, perhaps we "test subjects" had to deal with all of the issues that plagued the flagship model (while they "fine-tuned" it in preparation for the next generation model)!
......wouldn't that be nice!

That's the EHD I have. My concern is that I never initially used the WD Drive Utilities to set my drive's sleep timer, and I don't think it's possible at this point, so I can only hope it'll go to sleep.

I like some of the changes/additions, but I wonder why some things were ignored even tho they'd have been easy to include. For one thing, the colored buttons are still very underused.

A few other points:

New Features:

Keyboard entry: Now defaults to lower case characters

Was this the main complaint owners had? What about a recent/frequent searches list, or making it easier to edit the search text or recording's title?

Bright red/blue LED when in an internet application

Great. That's a nice feature that I'll never use. (I have a Roku for streaming)

Added a slider bar in the DVR Recordings menu

Okay, but I'd rather have a little bar next to each recording's name showing how far along I stopped. This would help me know which show I can erase now, or the soonest. The empty space on the right would work just fine.

Bug fixes:

Other Miscellaneous bug fixes.

Do they include the terrible sluggishness many of us have experienced. Hope so.

Anyway, I've used 114R for only a few hours, so hopefully I'll find that more things are now better and not worse. With Hulu+ on my Roku, it was the latter. I'll be canceling Hulu+ soon.

That's the EHD I have. My concern is that I never initially used the WD Drive Utilities to set my drive's sleep timer, and I don't think it's possible at this point, so I can only hope it'll go to sleep.

The WD "My Passport Ultra" will spin down after remaining idle for 30 minutes by default. It's set this way at the factory. You don't need to alter the setting. 30 minutes is perfectly OK.
......certainly as compared to it spinning constantly (assuming that they finally restored the original functionality)!

Okay, but I'd rather have a little bar next to each recording's name showing how far along I stopped. This would help me know which show I can erase now, or the soonest. The empty space on the right would work just fine.

Thanks for your input!

I don't have a problem with added features (such as the functionality of the LED)......as long as they first correct the issues that plagued this unit from day one (and that they created themselves with previous updates)!!

Insofar as the bar next to each recording that you described, it's unclear to me as to what purpose this would serve? If, at some point, you return to a show that you've only watched a portion of, you'll see a "resume playback" option at the top of the list. You won't see this with shows that you haven't touched yet (in addition to the fact that it will specify "new" on the recordings list).
Isn't this adequate?

Thanks for your input!
...
Insofar as the bar next to each recording that you described, it's unclear to me as to what purpose this would serve? If, at some point, you return to a show that you've only watched a portion of, you'll see a "resume playback" option at the top of the list. You won't see this with shows that you haven't touched yet (in addition to the fact that it will specify "new" on the recordings list).
Isn't this adequate?

Hey, thanks for replying. Here's a good example of a feature people don't know they could love if they haven't actually had it. And once you've had it and used it extensively, as I have on older DVRs, you kind of become spoiled. (I must count jump-to points as such a feature.) As far as the little bar is concerned, for me, it's really nice to be able to see something at a glance and not have to actually click a bunch of times to see it. A few examples:

- I've watched an episode nearly to the end and I'm done with it, but I don't want to delete it immediately. I stop it before it reaches the end and resets (on my old Sony it jumps to the beginning). Now, the little bar next to each episode shows me whether I've watched (nearly) none of it, half of it, or pretty much all of it. It was a nice convenience.

- When you're checking out the INFO on a bunch of shows, whether recorded or in the Guide, having to turn ON and OFF the info bar/window/whatever repeatedly simply adds up to a waste of time!

- I'm sure there are more examples not coming to mind right now.

You ask whether it's adequate. Well, yes. Maybe it is. Or maybe you've had better and now adequate just ain't good enough. I hope that doesn't make me sound too awful.

When you're checking out the INFO on a bunch of shows, whether recorded or in the Guide, having to turn ON and OFF the info bar/window/whatever repeatedly simply adds up to a waste of time!

I certainly agree with you 100% on this!.....
My (I think, perfect) solution would be to allow the "info." box to appear automatically when navigating the guide. Ideally, there could be a "switch" to turn this option on or off. If someone wants to see the description they turn the feature on. If they're not interested in anything more than the title, they turn it off. It's certainly a better option than having to continuously push the "info." button! Why can't the "info." box appear as you navigate the guide?
It's simple enough, is it not?
Why do I (we) have to think of these things? What are they getting paid (big bucks, no less) to do?
.....but since I'm not getting paid to design and/or engineer this unit, I'll have to leave it up to their brilliant people! 😴

Anyway, I've used 114R for only a few hours, so hopefully I'll find that more things are now better and not worse.

Please keep us posted on your experiences with 114R.
I'm reluctant (especially since the infamous 111R "update")!
Is your WD drive spinning down after the unit's been off for 30 minutes (as I specified previously, it should do this by default)?
Is the volume level higher through the TV?
Is there any distortion?
Are you having any issues with remote control response? Any sluggishness?
Please report any other issues you've been having (positive or negative).
Thanks! 😊

The same holds true for anyone that's using 114R.
Let's focus on the (supposed) bug fixes and any new features added.
The apps are truly secondary!
Please report back. Positive or negative.
So far, I'm holding off but I'll do the same once I work up the nerve!
Thanks! 😊

That's the EHD I have. My concern is that I never initially used the WD Drive Utilities to set my drive's sleep timer, and I don't think it's possible at this point, so I can only hope it'll go to sleep.

As someone already posted, the WDMPU comes with its sleep timer pre-set for 30 minutes. However, if you want it to be something else (I have mine set to 10 minutes), the WD Drive Utilities work just fine. Just go through the safe-remove procedure on the DVR+, pull out the drive and plug into a Windows machine, run the Drive Utilities to change the sleep timer, safe-remove it from the PC, plug it back into the DVR+, and confirm both dialog boxes that come up asking to check/use the drive again. It doesn't matter that the drive's volumes are unreadable under Windows, the Drive Utilities can still get at the sleep timer in the drive's firmware.

As someone already posted, the WDMPU comes with its sleep timer pre-set for 30 minutes. However, if you want it to be something else (I have mine set to 10 minutes), the WD Drive Utilities work just fine. Just go through the safe-remove procedure on the DVR+, pull out the drive and plug into a Windows machine, run the Drive Utilities to change the sleep timer, safe-remove it from the PC, plug it back into the DVR+, and confirm both dialog boxes that come up asking to check/use the drive again. It doesn't matter that the drive's volumes are unreadable under Windows, the Drive Utilities can still get at the sleep timer in the drive's firmware.

Good information.....
but some may be reluctant to deal with the dismount/mount/dismount/mount process (especially if their drives contain many recordings).
That's why I suggested "leaving well enough alone" and allowing it to spin down at 30 minutes (set by default at the factory), since there's no real benefit derived from changing the setting for this application.

Good information.....
but some may be reluctant to deal with the dismount/mount/dismount/mount process (especially if their drives contain many recordings).
That's why I suggested "leaving well enough alone" and allowing it to spin down at 30 minutes (set by default at the factory), since there's no real benefit derived from changing the setting for this application.

My experience (so far) with 114R has been overwhelmingly positive. No downside - once again, I speak of my experience. My gut feeling is due to the long interval from 111R, this got a lot of testing by their testers before it was put out to the general public.

My experience (so far) with 114R has been overwhelmingly positive. No downside - once again, I speak of my experience. My gut feeling is due to the long interval from 111R, this got a lot of testing by their testers before it was put out to the general public.

Hopefully you're correct regarding the long duration/testing process.
It would certainly be refreshing if all (or most) of the bugs were worked out and the functionality improved!
......especially when you consider that it's been almost a year since it (perhaps impulsively) was made available!

Hopefully you're correct regarding the long duration/testing process.
It would certainly be refreshing if all (or most) of the bugs were worked out and the functionality improved!
......especially when you consider that it's been almost a year since it (perhaps impulsively) was made available!

One thing I'd urge those who experience "bugs" is not to forget to communicate them directly to Channel Master (whether you mention them here or not). From everything I've read (whether here or in Facebook) when you report to CM, it gets read by the powers that be. While I'm fairly certain CM reads this forum, with all the "noise" it's sometimes difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. However, creating a support ticket (whether for something you consider a bug or a usability issue that irks you) guarantees it's in their system. And, the more people who create support tickets the more likely a particular issue will get attention. I don't have high expectations from companies about firmware updates other than for critical issues - I've been very pleased with the series of software releases that have been coming out. Yes, the volume went down and drives didn't sleep but my volume appears to be back up with 114R and other report that drives now sleep :-). And, the front led appears to work fine always being some level of red when a program is being recorded (one of my gripes).

For those of you who've not seen it, there's an interesting post from guy in charge of development on their FB page. Fwiw, I've found FB a good source of information for this product.

Firmware version 114R up and running with no problems. Everything looks good. It used to be you bought something and that was as good as it gets. You got to love getting improvements after the purchase.

Firmware version 114R up and running with no problems. Everything looks good. It used to be you bought something and that was as good as it gets. You got to love getting improvements after the purchase.

Ditto. Can't wait to test out the New Episodes feature. That is HUGE, IMHO.

I don't know if it's related but since updating to 114r Friday my guide is only populated for today Saturday. Everything after today is Unknown Event.

Is there a way to get the guide to reload?

Is the Rovi logo present (above the grid and to the right side)? If not, yours did what mine did and lost it's network connection (even though it says it's ok). The only cure I found was a factory reset, then going back and re-doing all my settings and channel deletions.

If the Rovi logo is present but it only goes out to 1 day of guide, that would be very unusual indeed.

Installed 114R. Compared to 108R, the update file is huge! So far, no serious problems. In particular, audio volume appears unchanged from 108R.

Remote is reasonably responsive, except in the guide it gets sluggish sometimes. About the same as 108R as far as I can tell.

One nice little change: when recording in standby, the LED turns dim red, so you can tell a recording is in progress without having to turn it on or watch for your HDD light to flash.

One minor complaint: if you press DVR, the recording list still comes up; but with 108R I could press "Left" and get back to the DVR menu. With 114R pressing "Left" exits completely. The only way to get to the DVR menu now seems to be by pressing Menu, moving down (or up 3 times) to the DVR icon, and pressing OK; one (or three) extra keystrokes. Why did they take away that nice shortcut?

In the DVR menu, the selections have changed: "Schedule" now brings up what 108R called the "Recording History," while "Series Options" brings up what 108R called the "Schedule!" The format of the schedule, er, "series options" has changed a bit; now it displays the number of shows scheduled to record instead of the date/time of the next scheduled recording, but for weekly manual recordings, it does show the day of the week (e.g., Friday) instead of just "weekly." Nevertheless, I prefer the old format - seeing the date/time is what alerted me to the problem I had last weekend. With this format I would have missed several more recordings before I knew what had happened.

In the guide, stations without a logo now have a "default" logo that looks like a little TV. Not sure what the point of that was, but whatever.

Not sure what the point of defaulting alpha input to lower case was either. What they probably needed was a "Abc" option where the first letter of a word would be upper case and subsequent letters would be lower case. That would make a more sensible default. But the alphanumeric input screen needs to be totally redesigned anyhow. Use the letters and symbols embossed on your remote, Echostar!

I see a Pandora app now, but I think that was added in 111R (the version I skipped).

Now, about YouTube:

First time I tried YouTube it failed, as others have reported. I tried again and it worked the second time, so don't get discouraged if it fails for you as well - just try again.

If you go to the YouTube search function, the "pairing" thing is a neat trick. It lets you access YouTube from another device but play the videos on your DVR+ and TV. For me that's not a big deal - my PC's monitor is actually bigger than my bedroom TV, so I'll just keep watching YouTube on the PC - but this would let you pick videos from a smart phone or pad instead of the YouTube app's clunky handling of alphanumeric input, which is, unbelievably, even worse than the DVR+'s default alpha input screen!

Suggestion: why don't they just include a USB keyboard driver in the next upgrade?

I hate to say "I told you so," but it turns out the "New episodes" option only records episodes never before shown. Just as I feared.

So if an upcoming episode that you haven't recorded is going to air twice next week, but it's not a "new" episode, this option won't help. If you select "new episodes," it won't record it at all - but if you select "all episodes," it'll act just as before: it'll record it twice unless you manually override and tell it not to.

This situation exists for me with the upcoming episode of "Independent Lens" on PBS.

So, yes, it's a nice addition to the firmware, but it still doesn't quite do what WMC does in this area. Looks like CM and Echostar still have some work to do here.

Is the New Episode feature limited to only one channel, or all channels that the show with the same title appears on?

I fear the New Episode feature would force me to delete the PBS subchannels here. New episodes of popular PBS series are often shown on the "Wisconsin subchannel" a day or more ahead of their appearances on the main PBS channel. That would have the DVR+ recording the low quality subchannel, and not recording the HD main channel. But deleting the Wisconsin subchannel is NOT something I want to do. I'd end up not seeing many of the state's own fine programs.